Earlier this week I enjoyed a lunch with a couple of ex-colleagues/friends. We previously worked together in a large global organisation, an organisation that purports to value people and performance, accountability and integrity (all the usual corporate blah blah that frequently turns out to be flimsy or hollow).
It was a great lunch. Not because of the food, which was fairly ordinary, but because of the energy of my friends. We’ve all since left the same corporate environment where we met. The difference in personal energy is definite; livelier, more vital and more positive. The bounce is back. The conversation was marked by comments about being free to take initiatives, float ideas, create direction and take actions, all without nonsensical and unnecessary layers of approval and sign-off that dulled our edges.
It’s left me wondering how much talent and potential is being squandered in corporate environments around the world? And what does it take for an environment to truly support a culture where individuals can thrive and be, and fully contribute as willing partners in a mutually meaningful and collective effort? I believe the answer lies in leadership, the type of leadership that genuinely values people and the vast diversity that people can contribute, if allowed and encouraged. And that type of leadership can’t be written as corporate blah blah. It’s leadership that people feel and are touched by and it’s leadership that gives us a positive energy; our bounce.
Bounce! We can create it for others through our behaviour and we can create it for ourselves through our thoughts. Go bounce!
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